Changing the landscape of literary awards by providing a unique platform to recognize and reward unpublished English and French-speaking authors of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry, and First Nations writers over the age of 50.

The Cedric Literary Awards presented $3,000 each to three mature and emerging unpublished BC writers. The winners are:

Joel Scott, of Chemainus, for his work of fiction titled “Jack”;

First Nations writer Sidney Harris, of Victoria, for his story “Morning Song’s Legacy”;

Beth Hawkes, of Salt Spring Island, for her work of creative non-fiction titled “Seasons”.

In the poetry category, two poets were singled out for special commendation. Michelle Doege, of Vernon, and Lynne Mustard, of Victoria.

The Award will include writers from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon in the 2017 Call for Submissions as a first step to expanding the competition to the rest of Canada by 2020. Future award programs will include senior-to-senior mentorship, writer coaching and editing.